The grant also funds research centers in geographic information and in education innovation at UB

By Grove Potter

“The teachers were depending on the students to get things set up and it had a synergistic effect.”

Joseph A. Gardella Jr., ISEP project lead

BUFFALO, N.Y. — What happens when the students become the
teachers? In a popular Buffalo Public Schools program led by the
University at Buffalo, magic happened.

The Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Program (ISEP)
— a collaboration of the UB, SUNY Buffalo State College and
the Buffalo Museum of Science with the Buffalo Public Schools
— exposes middle and high school students to science and
engineering.

Part of the program — co-led by UB's National Center for
Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) and UB's Center for
Educational Innovation (CEI) — brings together teachers and
students to work on geographic information systems, or GIS. During
this effort, program managers found that the role of teacher and
student reversed, with middle school students helping to teach the
teachers how to use mapping apps on their smartphones.

The effort showed such strong results, it just won a $1.2
million grant from the National Science Foundation to continue
operating for three more years.

“For one part of this activity we obtained smartphones
with GPS units in them so that the kids can take them into the
field,” said Joseph A. Gardella Jr., PhD, ISEP project lead
and a SUNY Distinguished Professor and the John and Frances Larkin
Professor of Chemistry at UB. “We had teachers and students
mapping invasive species at Tifft Nature Preserve.”

“But what happened in the summer activity is that the
teachers realized the students could do more on the programming
side than they could. The teachers were depending on the students
to get things set up and it had a synergistic effect,” he
said.

The federal government liked that synergy and the ability to
measure its impact on learning, and awarded the grant.

“The students became sophisticated participants,”
Gardella said. “That convinced the NSF that this really was a
unique situation.”

The benefit of having students and teachers in the same training
programs could prove to be a significant discovery. “This is
a focused, small piece, but it’s unique. If you bring
teachers in the class along with students, it’s more
complicated but the outcomes are way better,” Gardella
said.

The focus on GIS has multiple goals. First, it increases the
students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and
math (STEM), the overall goal of the ISEP program. And second, the
job market for people trained in GIS technology is growing fast. It
also plays into UB's research expertise.

"UB has made strategic investments over the years to build a
robust and diverse research enterprise in GIS science," said Ling
Bian, UB professor of geography, director of the UB site of the
NCGIA and co-principal investigator of the grant. "This grant helps
us fulfill part of our mission, which includes promoting
educational outreach for students and professional development for
educators."

Gardella said the goal is to bring the ISEP program to all 58
Buffalo public schools. While the latest grant funds one element of
the whole program, they are applying for eight grants a year for
other parts. He sees the success of the program is as part of the
region’s economic transformation and part of UB’s role
as a major research institution.

“We have people here, and if we get people ready for those
jobs, they will be here,” he said. “I think everybody
in this community wants to have a chance for those jobs.”

“It’s a unique, nationally significant
program.”

The program aligns with the mission of CEI, which is committed
to advancing the scholarship of teaching and learning through
integrated services, education, research and development related to
university teaching, learning and assessment. The director of CEI
is Xiufeng Liu, PhD, professor in the Graduate School of Education,
is a co-principal investigator of the grant.

In addition to Gardella, Bian and Liu, other co-principal
investigators from UB are Sandro Sodano, PhD, associate professor
in the Department of Counseling, School, and Educational
Psychology; and John Cerne, PhD, professor of physics.

ISEP has served almost 6,000 students in class, in after school
programs and in summer camps and research, as well as hundreds of
teachers in professional development.